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Sunday, December 16, 2012

I may be the author of The Pulse of Mixed Media but the true, creative force behind my book is the group of artists who generously shared their secrets and passions and, of course, their art. It was important to me that this book be representative of our entire artistic community, but the total number of contributors I could include was limited by the number of pages in the book. Not wanting to be contained by page numbers, I decided that the Internet was the perfect vehicle to extend the book and be able to include more of the community. With this in mind, the 5x5 Pulse Project was born.

The Pulse of Mixed Media presented the results of a survey in which contributing artists were asked questions that they had to answer with words or provided with prompts that they had to respond to by creating art. These ideas were combined in the 5x5 Pulse Project. I put out an open call for artists to submit artwork created in response to one or more of the following questions that were part of the original book:

1. If your artwork could talk, what would it say?

2. Who has had the most impact on your creative life?

3. What is one thing you have never shared with the creative community?

Submitting artists could chose 1, 2, or all 3 of the questions and respond to each by creating artwork in any medium in the form of a 5" x 5" square. They were asked to include words as a part of their artwork as well. There was a tremendous response to this call and I will be posting each submission every Sunday throughout the months of November and December.

The 5x5 project is also being featured in a ten-page spread in the November/December 2012 issue of Somerset Studio, now available in stores and online here.

"Until you came into my heart, I did not feel. Until you touched my soul, I did not dance. Until you took my hand, I did not trust. Until you looked into my eyes, I was lost. Until you held me, love was not."

20 comments:

Thanks Seth. I posted today on my blog www.workingtheearth.blogspot.com regarding this question and this posting on your blog. I just want to say (again) how lucky we all are to have such a forum and to have someone as wonderful as you to host this forum. You asked the touch questions and provided that place to air the answers. I am forever in your debt!

The body of work (I might have to buy the magazine to see the rest of the body) as a whole, so far has left me with a profound sense of respect for the communication offered within the body. There are stories here. Many voices. Similar experiences. The 'mother' fares well. Self-love (which is my person triumph in my lifetime so far) is a shared commonality. The sense of BEING, in all of its' guises and forms, are all here...in the body of work. It is sad that the body was broken. I'd like to see it mounted in a show with all of the 5X5 pieces on one wall. I'd like to see a poster for the show, with a layout of thumbnail shots of all of the pieces. It would be powerful. Just my little computer screen on a Sunday morning, has left me with tears rolling down my cheeks over a piece of two that I've seen in a post. These works are raw and powerful. They sometimes bleed. They are a brave showing of vulnerability and a testament to the trust and love that is given to one man (thank you Seth. You rock) and I sure would have liked the world to see that. To see the body. Maybe an article in a magazine called 'Psychology today,' or 'folk art annual,' or even an independently published 'zine.' Boy I tell you if there was ever a zine of this art I'd buy it in a heartbeat. I know how my heart feels and I know how my gut feels for sure and I am saying that this BODY of work is powerful. I hope it is not a missed opportunity. Brava to all. Hugs, Norma, xo